George a



(No Model.)

G. A. LOWRY. GRAIN BINDER.

No. 446,784. Patented Feb. 17,1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. LOIVRY, OF DES MOINES, IO\VA, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALLIANCE TIVINECOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

GRAIN-BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,784, dated February17, 1891.

' Application filed June 9, 1890- Serial No. 354,817. (No model.)

1'0 all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LOWRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Binders, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in grain-binders; and itsobjectis to render more efficient the operation of the spring-retainerfor the twine or cord; and to this end it con sists in the constructionhereinafter described, and then pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings like letters refer to the same parts in the severalfigures, in which Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of abreast-plate with my improved springretainer in place thereon. Fig. 2 isa perspective view of the same, together with such of the connectingparts as the needle, the knotter, the rotating disk, and certain of thegearing of the machine for operating such parts.

In the common form of device which has been heretofore employed torestrain the twine while the knotter-loill is completing its revolutionthe twine or cord has borne against a fixed or rigid part, and it hasbeen freqnently found that it would cut or break at this point by reasonof the fact that when the greatest strain occurred there was no give orelasticity where the friction was greatest. Furthermore, under thestrain referred to, especially when it was-suddenly applied, the

twine or cord was liable to jump or jolt over the restraihing-shoulder,and thus get beyond the reach of the knotter-bill.

In my present invention, A designates the breast-plate, to one side ofthe top portion of which is attached a projecting finger or teat B. Tothe other side of the same plate is attached a spring 0, the free end ofwhich projects inwardly and bears against that side of the projectingfinger nearest the knotter-bill.

As will be seen by an examination of Fig. 2 of the drawings, the twine,when it is under the strain of the rotating disk and the knotter-bill inthe act of forming the bundle, is pressed against the projecting fingerby the spring, and thus its slack is taken up and at the same time thespringpermits a certain amount of give to the twine when this is necessary Without allowing it to escape from the action of the parts thenoperating thereon.

It is obvious that the precise form of spring shown may be variedWithout departing from the spirit of my invention, and that theprojecting finger might also be modified in shape and, if desired, castintegrally with the breastplat-e.

WVh at I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a grain-binder, the combination of the knotting mechanism, therotating disk, and the needle-bar with the breast-plate provided with aprojecting finger and a spring secured to the opposite side of theneedle-slot from thatfrom which the finger projects and bearing upon theside of such finger nearest the knotting mechanism, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

GEORGE A. LO\VRY.

Witnesses: I

F. J SEAR-LE, FEEDEEIo O. TAYLOR.

